Story+1988-03-29+Detroit,+MI

´´Is it spring here in Detroit yet ? (cheers)....(?)....you know, I like to take a walk in the park, see who´s hanging around....hey, hey man, hey, how you doing ?....how´s it going ? (?)... haven´t seen you in a while....what´ve you been up to ?....yeah, yeah, oh yeah, how was it ? you had a kid, right, got a kid....three years old already...little Big Man running around out there...got the baby pictures....you spend a lot of time looking at baby pictures in this band these days....in about 15 years there´s gonna be a E Street Band Volume 2....gonna be all women, though....man, he looks good, he looks good....man, I remember we used to sit on this bench, I was....1975, I was 25, you were, uh....15....see, there was this big office building down on the corner...and me and Clarence, we used to come down here and....we had like, we´d pack a little sandwich, a couple of bottles of beer in a paper bag....we used to wait for the girls to come out after work....they used to come out right about this time....here they come, here they come....check the one....(?) check the one in the, uh, blue skirt, the blue skirt, here she comes....man, I remember I was with you the night....you´ve been married for six years, right ? I was with you the night you met your wife, we were overseas, Clarence came running into the room....swearing undying love for this girl that he´d just met....but that´s not unusual, alright (chuckles)....then he said he was gonna marry her, now that´s not unusual....and then he did ! (chuckles) that was unusual (chuckles)....remember how it was the first time she come walking in the room ?...back in New Jersey (?) feels kind of like this, come on Ritchie !....kind of like that (?)....stay out all night late at night, do whatever she wants to do....you´re kissing all the time....and now, now I gotta be in bed by 11.30....you wouldn´t believe it....then I gotta make it home for dinner too, jeez....see you later, alright...”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘All That Heaven Will Allow´**

´´How you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good....and how are you guys ? (cheers) ....(?)....that´s good...we missed you....before we go out on the road, we, me and the band, we kind of have this little ritual where we sit around and we talk about....all the old times that we´ve been through....riding on the bus....and I tell these same stories and they´ve all heard ´em about 100 times but they´re real polite and they act like they´ve only heard ´em once or twice (chuckles)....I guess because there´s something about re-telling ´em together that brings us closer after we´ve been apart for a while....and the pas, the past binds, I guess binds us all together in memory....but it´s funny because it something that can hold you back and hold you down too....can keep you from changing....keep you from going out and finding something new....now, this next song I wrote this song about a woman....trying to shed the part of her old life...and her old dreams that just held her down and kept breaking her heart over and over and over again...it´s about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own individual existence....and the value of the life of her child.....it seems like no matter where we go or what we do, the value of our own lives.....always tends to slip in and out on us....this is a woman....trying to put her past away....and find something new and meaningful in her life....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Spare Parts´**

´´I went out shopping to buy a....a little beatbox the other day, you know....got up early, went to the mall early in the morning....went into the department store....back to the beatbox section....started checking the things out, picked one up to hold it in my hand....a woman came over and said ´You gonna buy that thing ?´....then she looked at me and said ´Ain´t you, ain´t you, ain´t you that rock´n´roll singer ?´....then she said ´You gonna buy that thing ?´.... she said ´I like, I like, I like, I like your videos....was that girl, was that girl in the video, was she, was she really in the audience or was that somebody you hired, you know ?´....then she said ´You gonna buy that thing ?´....I said ´I wanna smash this fucking thing´....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘You Can Look´**

´´Is there anybody alive out there tonight ? (cheers)....is there anybody in the living spirit out there tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good....because what I wanna know is....are there any, are there any brave Motor City men out there tonight ? (cheers)....are there any Detroit macho men out there tonight ? (cheers) .... because I´ve known men that would swim rivers....they would climb mountains....they´d wrestle with the beasts of the jungle ....but there was one thing they was afraid of ....and I´m gonna tell you what that one thing was....I´m talking about L....U...V, love, that´s what I´m talking about....I´m talking about love....they went running home to their mommies when they got near it....now, are there any....Motor City women out there ? (cheers)....are there any brave, courageous, sweet, young girls out there tonight? (cheers)....because I´m talking to you too....I´ve known women that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet....that would swim down an anaconda river in Amazon wrestling with alligators, crocodiles, crawling king snakes....but they were afraid of love .... love scared ´em....now I´m down here tonight because I´ve got a confession I´ve got to make ....I´ve got something I´ve got to get off my shoulders....and I want to tell you.....that I have sinned !....and I don´t need Jimmy Swaggert, I don´t need Jim Baker, I don´t need no Pat Robertson to forgive me....them boys can kiss my ass....and that Jerry Falwell, he can kiss my ass twice.....I don´t care who you bring down here, bring Hulk Hogan down, I´ll take him on, bring down George the Animal Steele, bring down the Road Warriors, bring down Andre the Giant....I´m ain´t afraid of those kinds of things....but I´m a coward when it comes to love....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘I´m a Coward´**

´´They had this TV-movie on the other night about, uh....it had Kirk Douglas.....that´s the guy they put on trial for, uh....it went like this....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Part Man Part Monkey´**

‘‘This is a song, uh.....I wrote this song about 15 years ago, I guess....I worked really hard on it too !....we were sitting around before the tour trying to decide what music we were gonna play and....what I wanted to come out and sing about and talk about .... I knew I wanted to do something different from last time....gotta sing a new song .... that’s my job.... a good job too....this was a....this was a song I always think I know we’re gonna do.... and for quite a while, I guess the past couple of years every once in a while, I’d sit down in my house in my room....and I’d play this song like this....(?) I realised that it was a song that when I wrote it....I don’t know if when I wrote it, if I really knew what it was about....I figured it was about a guy and a girl that wanted to....escape the lives they were in....and just get out there and go.....and when they did....I guess a year or so went by and I realised that....that they, that they had to be going somewhere, someplace....that just getting out and running and moving.....it wasn’t good for ‘em.....that just a pursuit.... I guess, of purely individual freedom ..... was a sort of....prison in itself....and that freedom didn’t mean much unless it was connected to things, to other people, to friends, to homes (?)....and I realised that what that guy and girl were doing when they took off back in 1975, they were looking for some place that they could call ´home´.....and as I got older, I realised that that home wasn’t out there and that it was buried deep inside of me some-where....and to find it, to hold on to it.....is a full-time job....so....anyway, I hope this song’s kept you good company on your search....kept me good company on mine.....and I’d like to do it and dedicate it to you tonight wishing that.....that you can find.....everything you want.....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Born To Run’ **

´´Just wanna take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to these shows that we did here in Detroit....and I´d like to do this for you....wishing you a safe passage through that tunnel of love....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Love Me Tender´**

´´And now the greatest love song I ever wrote.....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Rosalita´**

´´That ain´t the end of the story....they drove all night...for hours and hours....then they got a little town and he said ´Where am I ?´ (crowd : ´Detroit´)...´Where am I ?´ (crowd : ´Detroit´) ....´Where am I ?´ (crowd : ´Detroit´)....if this is Detroit, this must be one, two, three, four....”
 * 29.3.88 Detroit, Mich., intro to ‘Detroit Medley´**

´´Now, have you ever been lonely ? (cheers) everybody´s been so lonely....that´s when you gotta reach out....somebody´s gonna remind you that you are a member of the human race ! ....and that´s when I wanna say hey, come on, baby....´´
 * 29.03.88 Detroit, MI, end of ´Dancing in the Dark´**

´´On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan.....on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg....on the guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren.....on the bass, Mr. Garry W.Tallent....on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici....back on the horns, we got Eddie, Richie, Mark, Mike, Mario, the Tunnel of Love horns....and last but not least.... master of the universe....king of all things....Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone ....´´
 * 29.03.88 Detroit, MI, middle of ´Light of Day´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//